MEMORIALS OF PRINCE ALBERT

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 41, 31 March 1863, Page 6 (Supplement)

MEMORIALS OF PRINCE ALBERT

[ (From the Tiims.) i; ]_The Principal Speeches and Addresses of His Royal Highness the Prince' Consort, with an Introduction giving some Outline of Ms Character, London : John Murray, 1862. 1 Yesterday, the anniversary of the death of the Prince Consort, was the renewal of grief to more than one illustrious mourner. This morning, when the year has fully sped, is not inaptly chosen for the appearance of a volume, which, to some im-per-fect extent, re-embodies the mind of the : deceased Prince. In this volume we have the speeches and addresses which were from time to time publicly made by Prince Albert. Many of us remember the surprise with which the earliest of these were received by the public. They first taught us that the young Prince who had been received so joyously by the people as the the handsome husband of their young Queen, was something more than a youth who could lead a court revel gracefully j and pace creditably through a regal ceremonial. We learnt from these speeches that we had taken to us as the First Coun- : seller of our Queen and the father of our future Kings, an earnest and a thoughtful man. We were startled to find, instead of the commonplaces of a State speech, deep and original observations which made us all think and cmestirji and criticise. We might di%gfltfMHfe^gßfMgi ' diif er ~ b^^HlH^H^^BiHi

acquiring wealth open to mostpf us, and who has himself only an often scanty life income allotted to him for his services, has a wife and children, like ourselves ; and we wish him to have the same solicitude for their welfare which we feel for our own." These however, are small matters. His estimate of the character of Sir Robert Peel is a larger effort. " There is but one alloy," the Prince said, "To my feeling 3 of satisfaction and pleasure in seeing you here assembled again, and that is the painful remerabrauce that one is missing from among us who felt so warm, an interest in our scheme* and took so active a part in pro moting its success, the last act of whose life was attending at the Royal Commission ; my admiration for whose talents and character, and gratitude for whose devotion to the Queen and private friendship to myself, I feel a consolation in hay- ' ing this public opportunity to express. Only at our last meeting we were still admiring his eloquence, and the earnestness with which he appealed to you to uphold, by your exertions and personal sacrifices, what was to him the highest object, the honor of his country ; he met you the following day, together with our Commissioners, to confer with you upon the details of our undertaking % and you must have been struck, as everybody has been who has had the benefit of his advice upon practical points, with the attention, care, ■ and sagacity with which he treated the minutest details, proving that to a great mind nothing is little, from the knowledge that in the moral and intellectual as in the physical world the smallest point is only a link in that great chain, and holds its appointed place in that great whole which is governed by the Divine wisdom. The constitution of Sir Robert Peel's mind was peculiarly that of a statesman, and of „ an English siatesman ; he was liberal from feeling, but conservative upon principle ; while his impulse drove him to fos- ,' ter progress, his sagacious mind and great experience showed* him how easily the whole machinery of a State and of society is deranged, and how important but how \ difficult also it is to. direct its further de- , velopment in accordance with its fundamental principles, like organic growth in . nature. It was peculiar to him that, in i great things as in small, all the difficulties \ and objections occurred to him first. He , would anxiously consider them, pause, s and \vajj^g^ins^ra3h^j-esolutions ; but

should be made which he bad always looked to, and which he considered the best, viz., that I should assume the command of the army» '* He was sure I could not do it without such a Chief of the Staff, who would be responsible before the public, and carry on the official communications with the"'other Government departments. Foi 1 this contingency he was prepared to organise' the machinery now, and he would answer for its success. " 1 answered to the Duke that I should be very slow to make up my mind toTradertake so great a responsibility — that I was not sure of my fitness for it on account of my want of military experience, &c., (to which the Duke replied that with good honest intentions one could do a great deal, and that he should not be in the least afraid on that score) — whether I could perform the duties consistently with my other avocations, as I should not like to undertake what I could not carry through, not knowing what time or attention they would require. "The Duke answered, that it would certainly require both time and attention, for nothing could be done without my knowledge, or without my order,, but that the detail would be worked out by the Chief of the Staff. He had thoroughly considered that, and would make it work. . He always stood up for the principle of the army being commanded by the Sovereign, and he endeavored to make the practice agree with, that theory by scrupulously taking, on every point, the Queen's pleasure, before he acted. But, were he gone, he saw no security, unless I undertook the command myself, and thus supplied what was deficient/ in the constitutional working of the theory, arising from the circumstance of the present Sovereign being a lady. Strictly constitutionally, I should certainly be responsible for my acts, but before the world in general the Chief of the Staff would bear the responsibility, and for that office the man of the greatest name and weight in the army ought to be selected. He repeated that he thought this the most desirable arrangement, and would at once work it out to the best of his ability. . . 1 begged him to leave me time to consider the proposal . "In the evening the Queen gave the Duke of Wellington an audience, I being present. After having set out by saying he was most anxious to let the Queen know and feel all he knew and felt about it — in Ifacf. to think aloud — the Duke repeated |^ me i n the morning, H9^BHB9HB^^Bft£Luestion further. I which H^HHHHiHHH^HHMMfc^ The

of the army or-not has been most ansionsly weighed by me, and I have come to the conclusion that mjr decision ought entirely and solely to be 1 guided by the consideration whether it would interfere with or assist ray "position of Consort of the Sovereignv and the performance of the duties wMeh.this position imposes upon me. . " This position is a most, .peculiar and delicate one. While a female Sovereign has a great many disadvantages in comparison with a King, yet, if she is married, and her husband understands and does his duty,her position, on the other hand, has ■many compensating advantages, and, in the long run, will be found even to be stronger than that of a male Sovereign. But this requires that fhe husband., should entirely sink his awn individual existence in that of his wife—that he should aim at no power by himself or for himselt-'-should shun all ostentation — : assume. no separate responsibility before. the public— but make his position entirely a part of hers-rfill up every gap which as a woman she would naturally leave in the exercise of her regal functions '~ continually and anxiously watch every part of the public business, in order to be able to advise and assist her at any moment in any of the multifarious and difficult questions or duties brought before her, sometimes international, sometimes political, or personal. As the natural head of her family, superintendent of her household, manager of • her private affairs, sole confidential^ adviser, in politics,' and only assistant in her communications with the officers of the Government, he is besides the husband of the Queen, the iator of the" Royal children, the private secretary of the" Sovereign, and her permanent minister. " How far would it be consistent with this position to undertake the management and administration of a most important branch of the public service, and the individual responsibility attaching to it-— becoming an executive officer of the crown, receiving the ' Queen's commands through her Secretaries of State, &c. ? I feel sure that, having undertaken the responsibility I should not be satisfied to leave the business and real work in the hands of another (the Chief of $he Staff), -but should feel it my duty to look to them myself. ; But while I should 1 in this manner perform duties which, I am ' sure, every v able General officer who has gained experience in the field would be able to ! perform better than myself^ who have not had the advantage of such experience, most important duties connectedwiM^^^MittflMj the Sovereignw^f^fl^^^^^^^^l which no^|M^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^| I am <jj4^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^| th^d^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H